Dear Church Family –
How does God work in our world? How do we know that God is real, and active, and caring about our lives in this world? My personal devotional reading has had me in Exodus lately. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a pillar of cloud and fire to guide us, and a cloud covering our church when we go there to meet with God?
Maybe. But then again, the Israelites did a lot of complaining and rebelling, even with physical evidence of God with them.
Tomorrow at sundown, the Feast of Purim begins for Jewish people. As part of the celebration of Purim, Jewish people around the world will read the book of Esther. Esther is the thrilling story of the beginning of the feast of Purim. More importantly, it is the story of God at work in a thoroughly pagan culture with open hostility to God’s people. Not unlike the modern culture we live in. God was powerfully at work but it wasn’t with pillars of cloud and fire. The book of Esther in the Bible is a great guide and inspiration for us today. Here’s how one contemporary Jewish Rabbi, Evan Moffic, described the story of Esther.
Picture this: A kingdom teetering on the brink of chaos. A young queen hiding a dangerous secret. A villain plotting destruction in the shadows. The fate of an entire people resting on a single moment of courage. This is the biblical Book of Esther— a masterclass in mystery, suspense, and hidden power.
The Book of Esther tells the story of a Jewish woman who rises from obscurity to become queen of Persia. She soon discovers that her people face imminent annihilation, threatened by the King's wicked advisor, Haman. Guided by her cousin Mordecai, Esther risks her life by approaching King Ahasuerus. She tells him she is Jewish. Then she exposes Haman’s plot and gets the King to rescind Haman's decree. Because of her courage, the Jews of Persia survived.
The book of Esther is unique among the books of the Bible -- in the entire book of Esther, God is never mentioned – never mentioned, but everywhere apparent. Rabbi Moffic continues:
God's presence doesn't always announce itself with burning bushes or parting seas…. God may be unseen, unmentioned, and unacknowledged, yet still orchestrating the circumstances that make redemption possible. The "coincidences" in Esther—that she happens to become queen, that Mordecai happens to overhear an assassination plot, that the king happens to suffer insomnia on just the right night—all point to an invisible hand guiding events toward justice.
The same God is alive and at work in our culture, and our lives. “…who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14)
Former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, said this a couple of years ago: “There are a lot of bad actors in the world, a lot of threats, but the biggest threat is if we lose our faith, if we fail to pass on our faith to the next generation.”
I’m grateful for God saving His people then and now. I’m grateful for God giving us a role in His work in the world. I’m grateful that God shows up in sure but quiet ways. I’m grateful for Jesus, the Messiah, who gave His life for us. I’m praying for Jewish people to find Jesus in the feast of Purim. I’m praying for Christians to light our world.
Because of Christ – Pastor Tim
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